Peter's Japan blog

A team from a Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has made a road surface that plays a song when you drive over it with a certain speed. Depending on the distance between the grooves the car will act as a tuning fork and play a "note" at a certain frequency. The song lasts about 30 seconds and you have to drive over it at a fixed speed of 28mph.

Source: The Guardian

The Japan 2008 trip will probably be during the Easter vacation, 2 weeks in April, although I still need to wait for concert dates from Ayumi Hamasaki.
Also I have other hopes of concerts which I expect next year. The GazettE usually has some dates in spring.
And since Hirano Aya has seriously started her singing career with her current single releases, I think we can expect a tour (or album). Would be nice if it were in April ^^.
And also X-Japan is said to do a tour again in spring of next year.

If they were all to come together in those 2 weeks, that would be really wonderful! But that will probably be asking too much, but one can have hopes ;p But definitely Ayumi ^^;

Some possible things to visit in Osaka:
- Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
- Tennouji Park
- Shintennou-ji temple

Japan is a very vulcanic country and therefore has Onsens throughout the whole country. Onsens are hot spring baths that have naturally heated water from source deep underground which are geothermally heated. These waters also have many minerals in them that attribute to several healing aspects, which vary from area to area.
Originally Onsen where public baths but not play an important role in domestic tourism and are usually in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese hotel. Onsen are usually indicated on sign & maps by the ♨ sign.
Also, originally Onsen where mixed-sex, but since western influence came after the Meiji restoration, men and women are usually separated, although mixed still exists, mostly in the countryside. Usually there is also a family bath which can be reserved for a family, which is mixed-sex, but can also be used alone if you want some privacy.

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Himeji Castle is a Japanese castle located in Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture. It was the first Japanese National Cultural treasure to be registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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